As you read these words, you’re cracking the code of letters and sounds. That’s literacy, and most readers take for granted its power: Those who can’t read suffer poorer health and more frequent hospitalizations. Lack of literacy annually costs the US economy an estimated $230 billion.

For 10 years, an intensive effort by the oldest outreach program in the Diocese of Atlanta — Appleton Episcopal Ministries, est. 1870 — has helped more than 500 children in Macon grasp the laborious decoding skills in learning to read. In a county where only 1 in 4 students typically meet state reading milestones before high school, Appleton multiplies those young children’s chances for educational success.

They take it word by word. One proven strategy for helping students with reading and fluency is through lessons centered around Decodables, designed for children learning to read. Each book focuses on words that follow specific, previously taught phonics patterns and high-frequency words. Decodables are used to help give children the feeling of successfully reading (decoding) a text confidently and accurately.

“I see the pressure they are under and when that child successfully reads the Decodable and feels proud of themselves and the whole camp claps for them, it’s wonderful,” said Niemah Rodgers, a summer enrichment supervisor for Appleton. “That’s what it’s about: giving them the confidence that they need, so that they want to read.”

But that’s not all. Appleton also is a force multiplier for the 10 churches of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta’s Middle Georgia Convocation. It strategically invests funding, resources, experiences, and connections to solve community needs and create greater opportunities. The Appleton Free to Read program uplifts the diocesan mission to worship joyfully. 

“To see the joy of a kid who feels better about themselves because they can now participate in class and contribute to the class community is part of what worship is all about,” said The Rev. Ben Wells, rector of St. Francis Episcopal Church, an Appleton partner. “Worship is not confined, or shouldn’t be, to the church building. Our worship should lead to larger service and a new way of seeing God and neighbor, which is what spirituality is all about.”

Relating to each sound, word — and one another

The core of Appleton’s impact is relationships — between children and words, between the Atlanta diocese and community partners — that together create more generational change than they could apart. Each student is tested in reading, spelling, and fluency to identify individual areas of need. Students are then grouped for instruction, either one-on-one or in small groups.

“Any organization that promotes literacy — and works very hard to ensure that every student can read and has an opportunity to learn how to read — is going to benefit the entire community for generations to come,” said Jamie Dickson, marketing communications director for Roberts Academy, an Appleton partner. “Literacy is a generational skill, and when those students learn how to read, they can then teach their children and their children’s children, and so it really is an asset that pays for itself.”

Kelda Cubit of 150-member Lizzie Chapel Baptist Church, another partner, said Appleton’s work fulfills a Biblical proverb: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8).

“Our children sometimes are treated as if they have no voice; they are often overlooked,” she added. “Children are vulnerable, and we’re called to defend those who are in need. And I see the work of Appleton as a direct application of taking care of those who are unable to do some things themselves. If you can’t read, you really can’t do anything else.”

Seeded a decade ago

For children who are behind, the reading clock is ticking. If they don’t learn to read by third grade, they will struggle to read to learn advanced subjects like science and history.

Reading successfully requires first meeting other needs, such as a safe place to read, a lack of hunger, and dealing with trauma and anxiety that keeps children from learning. Reading successfully means coaching parents to advocate for their children at school, to check their homework, to monitor their friends so that nothing gets in the way of reading.

For this work to take hold in Macon, Appleton relationships had to overcome economic and racial barriers. They had to build trust even when the pandemic kept people apart. They had to figure out what wasn’t working and adapt into something completely new. 

“This didn’t magically bloom,” said Julie Groce, the point person for this work and the Diocese of Atlanta Canon for Special Projects. She is a longtime resident and parent in Macon, and a historian too.  Her stock and trade have always involved words and reading and writing. “Part of our goal in the beginning was to do something that, in an answer to our baptismal calling, was to breach the chasms that the privilege of being an Episcopalian has created or helped to create in our area.”

Reading is complex, and so are the obstacles that children face, especially if they live in poverty and have experienced trauma. Parents who face their own reading challenges are less likely to read to their children. They can feel threatened if their child reads better than them.

“There are no isolated cases of illiteracy,” Cubit said. “When there is a high illiteracy rate, you often also have a high poverty rate, which means we have children with mental health issues that are undiagnosed. We have children that go to school hungry, who are not going to really want to read when they’re hungry. So, you really have to attack literacy from all areas.”

Groce agreed: “Every parent wants their child to be successful. But if you’re having to choose between, ‘Can I pay the power, the grocery and the water bill this month, or get my kid tested for dyslexia?’ that’s not really a choice.”

Slowly chipping away resistance

Even though state reading scores proved the need for literacy efforts like Appleton’s, resistance came in many forms, from parents and educators and a global virus.

After a school superintendent identified three Macon schools that most needed help, it took three years to finally get a meeting with the principal of one of those schools.  But Groce kept showing up and made contacts with each of the schools to enroll children in their program beginning in summer 2017.

Early on, Cubit point blank said to her, “Here comes another white woman telling us what to do with our kids.” 

Literacy work is a slow grind without instant results. Helping children master sounds and letters takes persistent, structured 1-on-1 work. It’s painstaking, and so is building trust.

Children at Ingram-Pye Elementary School already knew the Lizzie Chapel volunteers and their commitment to education; it would take dedication over time for the Appleton team to become insiders. For parents who couldn’t bring their children to St. Paul’s, Appleton sent buses to their elementary schools.

Christ Church member Elizabeth Benjamin was one mainstay. Starting in 2017, she was the bus volunteer at 7:45 am every summer weekday at John R. Lewis Elementary, the same Macon school she attended at a child (then named Riley Elementary).

Meanwhile, Groce stayed close to Lizzie Chapel. “Julie’s come to our church; she’s met our pastor, and with her we have the ability to pick up a phone and reach across the aisle,” Cubit said. “When we were doing Vacation Bible School, we had a van issue, and I had called other churches in our own denomination who had to talk to other people first. I called her and without hesitation her van driver showed up at our church.”

The pivotal pandemic summer of 2020 upended Appleton’s literacy program for good, literally.

Their target was raising third graders’ reading scores, and 95 percent of these children maintained or exceeded their pre-program instructional reading levels, many by an average of 9 months or more.

“That summer really put us over the top,” Groce recalled. “That was the summer we really established lasting relationships with our families.”

A donor, Gail Moulton, was squarely behind Appleton’s efforts and paid for Program Director Corley Peth’s training in Orton Gillingham principles, a multisensory approach that works with dyslexic students and others who struggle to read. It is evidence-based and data-driven.

Moulton “struggled as a child to learn to read and she has generously donated to Appleton to help address literacy issues with Bibb County students,” Groce said.

To make an even bigger difference, the Appleton Free to Read Summer program could expand. Instead of summer only, they could provide year-round support called Appleton Free to Read Intensive. But to hire a full-time trained literacy teacher meant a two-year capital investment initially funded by a portion of Appleton’s endowment.  That took a leap of faith by Appleton’s Board of Governors.

A gamble attracts more partners

Appleton’s work with children began more than 150 years ago, inspired by the second bishop in the Diocese of Georgia, the Rt. Rev. John Beckwith. Beckwith had served as a Confederate chaplain and wanted to help take care of the orphaned daughters of those troops. Beckwith asked his good friend William H. Appleton (1814-1899), a publisher and longtime senior warden at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in the Big Apple, New York City to help fund the construction and initial operation of an orphanage would expand beyond the initial first orphans. (His $22,500 gift would be $557,000 today.)

Established in 1870, the Appleton Church Home was operated by an early order of Episcopalian deaconesses known as The Order of St. Katherine. Eventually Appleton integrated and residential programs ended in 1991.

Today, Appleton’s leadership includes representatives from each of the parishes in the Middle Georgia Convocation: All Angels in Eatonton, St. Stephen’s in Milledgeville, Christ Church in Macon, St. Paul’s in Macon, St. Francis in Macon, All Saints in Warner Robins, St. Christopher’s in Perry, St. Luke’s in Fort Valley, St. Andrew’s in Fort Valley, and St. Mary’s in Montezuma.

Together, these parishes work with Groce across middle Georgia by partnering with a diverse group of denominations, faiths, and community organizations. Their shared mission is to promote the health, education, safety and well-being of children and families, including young adults. Appleton also tackles food insecurity, mental health, and racial reconciliation. Its purpose is to multiply resources and expand the Episcopalian footprint of outreach ministry in that part of Georgia.

Appleton Free to Read shows the impact of seeding, watering and inviting others to the work of outreach. The capital investment enabled the hiring of Program Director Corley Peth, a Macon native and teacher who had helped write the Free to Read curriculum, which is now trademarked for distribution to other dioceses.

 “Good teaching is a communal sport,” Peth said. “The best teachers see a child with learning issues, and maybe don’t have the answers, but think, ‘I bet I can go to someone who’s going to help.’”

Peth multiplies Appleton’s effectiveness by working part-time at Roberts Academy, a school for dyslexic elementary students that opened at nearby Mercer University in 2024. Peth’s connection was made through Dr. Sharon Murphy Augustine, associate dean at Mercer’s Tift College of Education and an Appleton board member from St. Stephen’s.

Through Peth, both Appleton and Roberts do more than they could by themselves. She is a bridge between the programs’ best practices, to go beyond the children’s literacy skills to help build their self-esteem, self-advocacy and self-confidence. The collaboration “is very much a God wink,” said Roberts Head of School Joy Wood. 

“Everybody can do something”

In summer 2025, the Free to Read team included three classroom teachers, four program assistants, an Orton-Gillingham reading specialist, and an enrichment supervisor.

Gabe Howard worked as a floater teacher. He grew up in Macon, and his parents and teachers helped him read. He wanted to pay that forward, because lack of literacy “is just going to spiral for kids, that’s just going to go down and down and down, and somebody’s got to intervene to help make a better life for themselves and for their posterity.

“Not everybody can do everything, but everybody can do something. And so, if you have the opportunity to do even one small little thing, even if you can help one person, still that’s a whole person that you can help. And I just feel like that’s a good thing to do.”

The paid summer staff frequently includes a Lizzie Chapel college student or graduate who majored in education.  A program assistant was a young high school student who attends Lizzie Chapel. He grew up like the kids in the program. He was being adopted because his single mother had recently died.

“He didn’t have anybody,” Cubit said. “He never really held a job before and was withdrawn and very into himself. That summer at Appleton literally changed his world.”

Reading opens up the world

Each day, the 36 students from 28 families received free breakfast, lunch, snack and transportation. They read a new book in a curriculum that addressed self-esteem, respect for peers, managing emotions, exploring historical events, and learning about diverse cultures around the world. Each week, those books went home with them for their personal libraries.

Each afternoon, they went on field trips or participated in enrichment activities that reinforced the 2025 theme, “My Place in the Community,” which sparked students to explore civic engagement and responsibility, the significance of stable neighborhoods, and the importance of government planning. At the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, they learned about the Tuskegee Airmen.

“We got to go to Miss Julie’s house and see all her flowers and birdhouses,” said Casey, one of the students.

The staff included John Mark Parker, a full-time licensed family therapist, who helped promote positive student mental and emotional health.

“No one can accuse us of pushing religion on people,” Parker said. “But we are living out the mission that we all have to make life better for people and to be the love of God and the Jesus that people will experience without words.  

“I wanted to be a part of the group that says we believe in you and we see you and we hear you and we love you and we know that you can do this. I’m hoping that if they leave with anything, they’ll remember that somebody cares and believes in them and they won’t give up.”

Deep pockets needed

Some students don’t have enough control over their mouth muscles to form words, which an occupational therapist could help fix. Other students need assistance from a speech therapist. Groce would like to find extra money to hire those specialists as part of the program’s wrap-around care, and some more “deep pockets for consistent multi-year funding.”

As is, Appleton’s literacy program reaches families who otherwise would not experience the Episcopal Church. They can count on critical support for their children’s reading needs, at no cost. Appleton shows how to love like Jesus by serving compassionately.

The initial deep resistance is gone, eroded over time as the Appleton literacy team showed up for the children and families. “Appleton would be a great model, not just for the Episcopal faith, but for any faith,” Cubit said. “It is putting the hand and feet of Jesus at work.”